Should Maitland-Niles be sold?
Despite previous uncertainty surrounding him, it finally seems as though Ainsley Maitland-Niles will still be an Arsenal player at the end of deadline day next week.
Reports coming out from the Metro state that he could be joining Manchester United, however Arsenal are adamant that he won’t be going anywhere.
“Maitland-Niles was on the brink of a £30million switch to Wolves earlier this summer but Mikel Arteta made it clear that the versatile 23-year-old remained a key part of his plans for the future after an outstanding performance in the Community Shield.”
A performance that in my eyes he has failed to replicate since!
The Metro also states; “Arsenal and Arteta had backtracked on this stance, with United holding advanced discussions to land Maitland-Niles in a £20m deal plus bonuses and add-ons.”
If Arteta wants to raise the funds to buy long-term target Aouar then the best place to start would surely be to get rid of Maitland-Niles, especially if they can offload him for the £30m fee that would bring us closer to being able to make a decent enough bid to Lyon for Aouar, decent enough that they would let him go anyway.
I know Maitland has the potential to become a decent player, but in my opinion, the only good performance I saw him have was in the Community Shield final against Liverpool, and he has had chances to showcase that talent he showed on the day but he has failed to do so.
I think we should cash in for him if we have the chance to make our own chances of bagging Aouar a lot more easier, because the way it is going at the moment it is 50/50 on whether we will get him and knowing Arsenal it will go down to deadline day! Gooners?
Shenel